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Album Details

• Artist: John Guliak and the Lougan Brothers
• Album: The Black Monk
• Label: Mint
• Year of Release: 2002
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: rbidet on 2005-03-29

Though based in Vancouver, John Guliak is a child of the Canadian farmland, and as such, his country/folk/rock sounds a lot more authentic than what is offered by many contemporaries, folks for whom roots music is more a dalliance than a natural expression. The fiddle and mandolin breakdowns, the two-step rhythms and Guliak's rough but colorful voice sound eager and right in this collection of originals and covers from the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Harlan Howard and Uncle Tupelo. It's a pretty smooth ride throughout, as Guliak's songs hold up pretty well alongside the older, proven ones. It's no knock against him to say that the standout tracks here are the covers, though, primarily since those comprise over half of the disc's length. All of the material is delivered with a minimum of decoration, letting Guliak's full voice (sounding a lot like a twangier Bruce Cockburn) shine, as it does on the opener "Streets of Baltimore" one of the standouts along with "Time and Time Again" and Uncle Tupelo's "Still Be Around". Guliak himself penned the sarcastic "Oh! Canada" where he surprisingly summons the ire to take the "self-righteous sons" of his native country to task, but even this is delivered in the homey, comfortable manner of the entire disc. All around an enjoyable and convincing effort from a guy successfully bridging decades of music and finding a common thread.

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